


The Hidden Tunnels of London

by PaleEmeraldNebula



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2017-12-31 23:58:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaleEmeraldNebula/pseuds/PaleEmeraldNebula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the Metacrisis Doctor and Rose deal with the events that happened on Bad Wolf Bay, the human Doctor finds distraction from his troubles by investigating a series of missing persons in the Soho area.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: Thepuddinhead

**1854 - Soho, Westminster, London**

The air in the pristine church was dull and heavy on a regular Sunday afternoon, just as dull and heavy as the pews. Only a foolish few could see it as an uplifting place of hope. To the bulk of the congregation, the holy site was just part of their miserable routine, where they came to silently scream at the heavens, begging for a miracle.

Death had come to the town by a reaper known as cholera.

John Snow trailed behind the defeated congregation as they left following a trying and forced sermon. Though his gait was proud, his face was worn and glum. As a physician he had been trained to deal with the nefariousness of sickness, but after so much of it, he felt weariness down to his bones.

He wiped his sweaty brow and balding head. When he felt a presence at his elbow, he looked to see his colleague, Henry Whitehead. Henry tugged on his long, grey beard, an old nervous habit of his. “The map is telling John. We are almost there.”

“How many will die before the map is finished? Before those who need to listen will listen?”

“God is with us on this. And patience is the key to all things trying. As I was saying yesterday…”

As Henry spoke encouragement, a woman caught John’s eye. She was the last to leave, lingering near the door. Though she was dressed as finely as any other middle class woman, her intense red hair and strangely bright green eyes stood out. She returned his stare boldly.

With disbelieving awe, John interrupted. “Who is she?”

Henry looked over to the woman in question. He seemed perturbed by the change in subject. “Oh? That is Lady Rose Spears. She is new here. Unfortunately she has come at a rather un-fortuitous time.”

John watched as Rose Spears disappeared beyond the church doors. “Rose Spears, a very lovely name.”

~~~

**2012 - Dålig Ulv Stranden, Norway**

The freezing, rough beach attracted the worst kind of wind. It tossed hair and stung her eyes. Ignoring the torrent, Rose’s concentration remained fixed on the fact she felt like she was sinking into a deep bottomless pit. When she watched the TARDIS disappear, she’d tried to burn the image in her mind. She knew it was the last time she would ever see the Time Lord and his blue box. The last time she would hear the ship fade. Though the Doctor once said ‘never say never ever’ she felt that now would have been the perfect time for those words. She would never ever see or hear the TARDIS again.

Yet a hand entwined with hers, kept her from going under. She turned to glance at the Meta-crisis Doctor and he looked back at her. She remembered that the Doctor could be right about some things. She would never hear or see that TARDIS again, probably. But though the new TARDIS was currently just coral stuck in a pocket, she would hear it – once it grew.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. TARDIS or not, Time Lord or not, the Doctor staring back at her had the same memories, the same thoughts, and the same feelings as the Time Lord who had disappeared. And this Doctor had told her what she needed to hear. He wanted to stay with her at the cost of everything. He had lost the TARDIS, friends, and a universe just like she had; maybe he had lost even more. Potential years and all they entailed had gone up in smoke when he was made part human. He was mortal like her.

Rose squeezed his hand, still not completely able to smile. “I guess that’s that then.”

The Doctor paused for a moment; making that silly momentary pout she remembered so well when he was over-analyzing something. “Well, I think that depends on your meaning of ‘that’. If you mean ‘that takes care of that’, ‘that’ of course being current events, then yes, indeed that’s that. Though if you mean that as a way of saying that’s the end of a variety of issues, one being him, and the other being me, and the rest being everything in-between – this isn’t really helping is it?”

Biting back a smile, Rose shook her head. “No, not really. Are you trying to help by confusing me so I don’t notice what just happened?”

He took a step closer, still holding tightly to her hand, “The future isn’t written. Part Time Lord or not, I can still see time and all the endless possibilities out there. This doesn’t have to be an end to anything, only a beginning.”

“I can tell you what’s beginning.” Her mother’s voice cut in-between them, “The freezing of my bum. You two can chat all you like when we get home, but you won’t be able if we freeze to death out here first.”

Turning to her mother, the Doctor grimaced. “Oh, Jackie, you still here? I thought you’d have run back to London by now.”

Rose glared at him. Releasing his hand, she moved closer to her mother. “Alright, we should probably start walking. Did you already call Dad or did you want me to?”

“I’ve just been waiting on you, sweetheart. I’ll make the call.” Jackie took out her phone from her jacket pocket and sent the Doctor her own fierce expression. “It’s just like you, leaving us out to dry.”

The Doctor put his hands up. “It wasn’t me, it was the other one.”

“Same difference. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to call Pete and get this all sorted.”

Rose watched as her mother took a few steps back to phone her father. When the Doctor came to stand beside her, his solid and warm presence stuck to her like a well worn jacket. His company helped her cope with recent events and she knew she wouldn’t be able to stay mad at him for any length of time. She turned to him, wanting to smile, but not allowing herself. She just couldn’t. Not yet. “I wasn’t kidding about walking. Last time we were here we drove at least ten minutes on the beach to get to this spot.”

“Lead the way.” The reassurance on his face alarmed her. She’d thought he would be just as shaken by being left here as she was.

“I’ll grab Mum. She can walk and talk just as easily.”

Minutes later they made their way along the beach following her mother, still completely engrossed in conversion with Pete. The Doctor seemed focused on the scenery and the surrounding landscape, though when he didn’t take her hand as they began to walk, it jarred her. Perhaps he was being considerate. Or he was being overly sensitive. Either way, if he wouldn’t take her hand, she’d simply have to grab his.

~~~

When Rose took his hand, the Doctor was startled. He hadn’t even realized their hands weren’t together in the first place. His mind raced with millions of ideas, concerns, and thoughts. They were filling every corner of every inch of his very impressive Time Lord brain. Being mostly Time Lord meant he could still think of several things at once and have the universe along with five billion languages spinning around somewhere in his mind. He was grateful for being part Time Lord.

But, no matter how much he loved humans, the idea of being one, even partly, didn’t sit well with him. Having lost his control of his endocrine system that raised his temperature and let his various hormones run amuck, his respiratory bypass system, and his regeneration ability, he felt all too human. He felt vulnerable.

No, the word vulnerable didn’t actually cut it. He was farther away from anything he had ever known, all the people he had ever met or seen or cared about, and he’d lost his TARDIS. His trusting and loving spaceship was all he had known for hundreds of years. He didn’t think a human word could properly describe his situation. He could think of several other words from other worlds that may fit, but even they all felt empty, one-sided, and completely inadequate. 

Rose was the silver lining. When he’d left Rose here before, she not only had her mother, but another version of her father, and Mickey. She had several lines of support and he knew she would be fine. Now and here, the Doctor knew that Rose would be his single line of support, because she cared. Because he knew she loved him. Maybe it would take a while for her to open up to this version, but she would. He absolutely believed that she would.

In the end, that was all that really mattered. Rose. He had lost so much already. Worse even, he had caused the biggest loss he still felt constricting his now single heart. He’d destroyed things, people and civilizations. The Daleks needed to be obliterated. He didn’t have a choice and the other one knew it. The other him knew just how much that was going to sting. Loss and death followed him like a second shadow. Or perhaps loss and death were his shadow. Yet Rose was here, walking beside him, knowing what he was and not caring.

No, this wasn’t good. Better to think about the other details of his current situation than contemplate the psychological effects of his past and his deeper character faults. Not that he had _any_ faults.

“You know, I walked on a very similar beach a couple hundred years past. The sand was made of purple ice crystals that floated at dawn, but the cliffs were the same. They were very sturdy cliffs. Those cliffs kept the invading armies of Grolen Pax, who were at war with the Bolen Pax, at bay for nearly three years before collapsing, trapping the armies within the fallen rocks and suffocating them all.”

“What a lovely image. Which planet was that one?” By the sound of her dulled flat voice, Rose must not have been very interested in his story. Perhaps she just needed to see the beach.

“Oh, we haven’t been to that one yet. I was barred from entering their solarspace. But it was Exotomellax. I wonder if the planet still exists in this universe. We might be able to visit.”

Jackie snapped the phone shut, interrupting his thoughts. “Pete says he’ll have a taxi meet us out by the road as soon as he can. Thank god he has money for that bit of persuasion. Then we’re headed straight to the zeppelinport and to London. If Lady Luck is on our side, we should be home for dinner.”

“Lady Luck, at least on the other Earth, is just another description of the Goddess Fortuna. And if I remember correctly, she’s walking with us.” He gave Rose a very deliberate grin, “So I don’t think that will do us any good.”

Jackie flicked her wrist in a dismissive wave, but the easy tone of her voice contradicted any severity. “Oh, hush you. If Rose is Lady Luck, then I’m Cleopatra. Won’t be more than an hour wait or so. We have each other for company ‘til then.”

He instantly noticed when Rose broke out in a secret smile. He’d been waiting for it and a thousand planetary bodies lifted off his shoulders the moment she did.

Rose whispered, “If you two don’t kill each other by then.”

He stood a little straighter, trying his best to be nonchalant. “I think we can manage.”

They continued walking for what felt like long, completely unnecessary hours.  The sticky, wet sand seemed quite attracted to his Chucks, which only made walking worse. He’d have to get them cleaned, or have to find a suitable replacement for them when he next got the chance.

At least the sand, the beach, and the whole new universe that he’d have to call his home were a welcoming distraction. He didn’t have to think about Donna and Rose doubting him as the Doctor, thinking him somehow lesser, even if they didn’t think it now, that they thought of him that way before was enough to send chills down his spine. He didn’t have to think about being human and his new, new limitations, such as his reduced abilities to sense the stars and the turning of Earth. He didn’t have to think about the pain in Rose’s eyes or the fact she hadn’t really smiled _at him_ since the TARDIS. Of course, all that was niggling in the back of his brain, but now those things didn’t have to be anywhere in the forefront.

_Oh, look, a white-tailed eagle, or Haliaeetus albicilla. I wonder if Rose would be interested._

~~~

Rose nearly jumped out of her skin when the Doctor suddenly shouted beside her. He turned about, releasing her hand, looking at the sky with focused eyes and a big grin. 

“Oh, you just missed it! There was a lovely white-tailed eagle just over yonder.” He stopped Rose and pointed beyond a ridge not far off from where the sea met land. “She was beautiful! Huge tail feathers! They nearly went extinct back in our other universe. Is that what we should call it, ‘the other universe’?”

“I don’t know, maybe just the original universe?” Rose hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about other universes at the moment.

“Nah! That makes it sound like Pete’s Word isn’t as original and it’s just as original as the other universe.”

She needed to readjust to the Doctor. They’d been apart for two years and she had forgotten just how enthusiastic he could be about everything. Only Rose wanted his hand back in hers. His hand, his familiar, albeit warmer, hand, was still keeping her together. Her heart ached for the full Time Lord Doctor and she was still in shock that the Doctor was here with her too.  She had this whole new life ahead of her and she felt completely overwhelmed. And trying to readjust to the Doctor, and a seemingly happy one, was just stretching her limits. It didn’t help that something felt off. “Call it what you like. I just want to get home.”

He fell silent and walked on beside her, although more somber than before. His grin had disappeared and was replaced by a blank expression. Understanding that maybe she could have been nicer, she began to feel guilty. When he grabbed her hand and caressed her thumb, her guilt mixed with confusion and relief. He held on tightly. Its soothing pressure was just enough to make her forget her worries. For now, they didn't have to focus on anything but walking.

“Come on you two, I can see the road from here!” Her mother sounded unusually happy about a road. She couldn't blame her.

The Doctor tilted his head towards her and gently whispered. “See, you’ll be home in no time.”

Rose looked over to him. She immediately noticed how close his face was to hers and her breath caught in her throat. With her hand in his and the road within sight, she beamed at him. “Just about, yeah.”

Rose watched as the Doctor’s smile turned into a wide, toothy grin. It was like someone just told him he could unwrap presents on Christmas Eve. He tugged her hand, pulling her arm, being playful as ever.

“Race you to the road?”

This was what Rose needed. “Last one there is a rotten egg!”

“You’re on!” Then the Doctor was off, running as fast as he could. She didn’t miss a beat and ran after him, trying to catch up. She didn’t miss the expression on her mother’s face, a complete look of exasperation, as she ran past.

The Doctor reached the road first and turned to wait with his hands in his pocket and a very triumphic look lighting his eyes. As soon as her feet touched the road, he was all grins again. “Ha! You’re the rotten egg! Though you don’t smell like one.”

With her feet on solid ground, she was completely engrossed by the Doctor’s levity. “How old are you again?”

“Depends. My mind is nine hundred and three years old, this body is, oh, about nineteen hours, give or take a few minutes. Except the hand, the hand is the same age as my mind. Wizard isn’t it?!” He cheerfully held up his right hand and wiggled his fingers.

“No, just a bit creepy, really.” Rose was still smiling. But every time he spoke about himself in that way, it was another reminder that the other Doctor was out there, without her.

Fortunately the taxi pulled up at that moment, pushing aside her unpleasant thoughts.

“I guess Lady Luck does have a few tricks up her sleeve.” The Doctor winked, with that grin still on his face.

Ignoring him, she saw her mother in the distance. Though she was behind them on the beach, she was moving as fast as she could to catch up. Rose bent down to the open window of the taxi. “It’ll just be a minute. Mum’s almost here.” She stood and addressed the Doctor, “You go on and wait inside. I’ll wait for Mum.”

He surprisingly didn’t argue and climbed in the Taxi’s back seat. Unconsciously, her thoughts turned back to what happened recently. A chilled rush of blood spread out from her heart and her gut felt devoid of anything that mattered. This wasn’t how she thought things would be like, after all that work to get back.

The rear door window rolled down and the Doctor popped his head out. “Tell your mother to leg it. I haven’t got the TARDIS yet, so we can’t waste time.”

Things were really different.

~


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta: Thepuddinhead
> 
> Thepuddinhead is my lovely beta and without her this story couldn't have happened!

~~~

The Doctor saw that saddened, defeated look return to Rose’s face and he didn’t like it. He should be considerate about the fact they had run on ahead and let Jackie reach the road at her own pace. He often didn’t do what he should, though. If Rose wanted to get home then that ought to happen as soon as possible.  It would erase that depressing vagueness that was overtaking Rose. Or, at least, that was his hope. One of them had to be at least somewhat happy.

Rose crossed her arms and leaned against the taxi, not even brothering to look at him when she spoke. “Mum can’t go any faster. She’ll be here in a minute.”

A minute, sixty seconds, one sixtieth of an hour, or could be an eternity. He was part human now, only had maybe sixty years to live his life. A life with Rose, if things went well, was only about, roughly, six percent of his life as a full Time Lord. He’d told Martha that some people lived more in twenty years than others do in eighty. He hoped that would be the case here.  And that meant that every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every month, every year, every decade, would be important, if not downright imperative.

“I can’t believe you two would just go running off, leaving me behind.” Jackie arrived out of breath and red as a beetroot. “Anything could have happened. Could have fallen into quick sand, or been eaten by a large creature.”

Rose opened the front door for Jackie without hesitation. “None of that could have happened and it didn’t. It was just a bit of running, that’s all.”

“Cardiovascular exercise, good for the heart! You should try it more often Jackie, might lose some of that baby fat.” 

Jackie turned in her seat to face him. “I’ll tell you what you’ll lose if you keep that up.”

Rose opened the other door and dropped down beside him with a heavy sigh, still sporting that look he didn’t like. He grabbed her hand and she caught his eyes. They shared a small, taut smile between them. There wasn’t anything he could do to help her. With the TARDIS he could take her places to get her mind off her troubles. In this new world, he couldn’t offer her anything other than his hand.

The car started to move and the Doctor knew they were in for a long, uncomfortable trip. This wasn’t his preferred method of traveling. Cars, and aeroplanes, and zeppelins, none of it seemed right. He settled against the seat with an irritated sigh.

Instead of letting his mind wander where he really didn’t want to go, not now, and not with Rose and Jackie so close by, the Doctor started up a conversation. He spoke about all the places he’d gone and the people he met after losing Rose at Canary Wharf.  He was relieved when Rose joined in, speaking about her work at Torchwood and all the crazy and exciting adventures she had experienced. Rose had saved this world more than a few times since last he saw her. He wasn’t surprised; he was thoroughly impressed.

When he asked about how she was to able cross universes and why, the look on her face changed.  Her eyes became distant and her mouth curved downward into a near grimace. She glanced at her lap, hiding her face with her hair, and then turned away from him, staring out the window.  With her attention focused on the monotonous landscape, she told him about the Dimension Cannon and how the stars went out. The flat, harsh tone of her voice chilled him; she talked to him like a stranger.

He tried to change the subject after that, but the conversion dulled into a silence he had hoped to avoid.

The city was approaching just when he most needed something else to distract him. He watched the Zeppelins float in the sky, going towards their destinations at a leisurely pace. He inwardly groaned, but realized he might have been more audible than expected when Rose turned to him.

“What? What’s wrong?” Her concern was lovely, but he didn’t want worry her.

“Traveling by zeppelin isn’t my cup of tea. It’s slow, like riding a snail across a continent. We’d probably be better off swimming to London.”

“The Vitex zeppelins should be the latest model. They’re sort of fast, though I guess slow to your standards.”

“They still use combustion engines?” The Doctor knew he must look like he’d just swallowed an apple whole, but he couldn’t help it. Everything seemed to go too slowly for him.

“We might be advanced but we’re not that advanced. Our zeppelins use a smaller jet engine. Shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Jet engines on zeppelins? Oh, that rhymes: jet engines on zeppelins.” After a quick calculation, he turned to Rose. “Should I be scared?”

“It’s safe. Been tested by the highest of authorities in the safety commission. Or at least, that’s what they say. Torchwood doesn’t bat an eye at that sort of thing.”

Grateful for a new topic of conversation, they went on about the history of zeppelins, how they came to be the main form of travel, how some people’s lives revolved around them, and how they were used for any and all types of shipping. He was put off by the idea that the higher class spent most, if not all, of their time on their zeppelins. Some even lived on them.

When the taxi came to a stop at the port, the Doctor was sure this would be the only time he would travel by zeppelin. If he had to invent another type of transport to ensure that, he would.

~~~

Rose got out of the car with weighted feet, feeling more tired by the hour. She was back to feeling like she was sinking into a large and hungry hole. It only made it worse when she had to explain to this Doctor what she had already explained to the other Doctor. The Doctor, who was alone, trapped in another universe. Maybe he had Donna, or maybe they had parted by now. What got to Rose was that she wasn’t with him. She didn’t want him to be without her. And she didn’t want him to be alone.

The Doctor was here too, walking by her side. This Doctor would grow old with her and needed her just as much as the other Doctor. Her head spun. She really needed sleep. Maybe then she could properly wrap her head around the idea that the Doctor was alone and yet beside her at the same time. 

Once inside the zeppelinport, this Doctor took everything in with a giddy expression, looking around with keen and discerning eyes, ready to find the smallest item to catch his interest. It didn’t take long.

“Well, isn’t this neat?” He went over to study one of the newest scanners. “You guys already have a multispatial binocular transduction device! That’s years ahead of the other universe!”

“A-a what?” No matter how much Rose had learned, she could count on the Doctor to leave her completely dumbfounded.

He stood with a happy bounce and faced her, cheekily wearing that grin Rose knew meant trouble. “This!” He stepped backwards into the scanners.

“No, wait! Don’t!” Rose yelled a second too late. Was he doing this on purpose?

A loud screeching alarm went off, followed by another.  Uniformed authorities came rushing in to trap the Doctor inside the scanner. A few of the zeppelinport employees came upon the scene to read the nearby computer, trying to figure out the full situation. 

An electronic voice sounded, repeating. “Person of unknown origin. Person of Unknown origin.”

The Doctor put his hands up slowly, still keeping his eyes locked on her. “Oh, looks like I did something I wasn’t supposed to and got myself in trouble.”

“You need to put a leash on him, before he goes and lands himself in a jail cell.” Her mother lightly touched her arm with trembling fingers.

Rose hid her grin with her hand. “I have half a mind to let you get out of this on your own.”

“Is that a challenge, Rose Tyler?” The Doctor’s voice rumbled with a low, teasing baritone as a devious smile touched his lips. He lowered his head a bit more to intensify his stare before he then turned in a dramatic fashion to the guards surrounding him. He pulled something out of his pocket and began his explanation, “Sorry ladies and gentlemen. False alarm! As you can see I haven’t been properly inputted into the system yet due to my very sensitive and highly important status.” He passed around what he pulled from his pocket and the guards all nodded in agreement.

The Doctor reached out and took back the item before Rose could see it. Hardly a secondly later the zeppelinport employees entered in the release code and the doors to the scanner unlocked. The authorities then began to disperse after turning off the alarm. He stepped away from the device and casually walked over to Rose, with his hands in his pockets and a very smug expression plastered all over his face.

“Just how did you…no, don’t tell me. Psychic paper?” Rose gaped at him. He was the very vision of the man she remembered. The more she saw that, the more at ease she felt.  

“Right on!” He flipped the leather wallet in his hand, “Made sure I had the spare on me in case something like this happened. And knowing me…” He bobbed his head for a moment. Rose shook hers incredulously. He knew exactly what he was doing. Show off.

“What else do have in those pockets?” Knowing the Doctor, he probably had half the TARDIS stuffed in his suit.

“That is for you to find out later.” He wiggled his eye-brows and Rose almost blushed. In all their time together and their  _playfulness_ , sometimes she didn’t know if he was being innocent or really meant half the things he implied.

Jackie burst through between them and made her way deeper into the port. “Oh, stop flirting and let’s get on with it. We have to go through the special entrance for our zeppelin.”

They boarded their zeppelin not long after. It was privately owned by The Tyler family and had been prepped for their arrival. It took off immediately once they were seated, much to everyone’s relief. Home wasn’t far off now.

She tried to make more small talk. It didn’t work. Overcome by her exhaustion, she fell asleep soundly in her chair before she could even form a sentence.

When they arrived in London, the solid stillness woke her. The first thing Rose noticed was that she had been napping peacefully on the Doctor’s lap. He greeted her with a welcoming, bright smile. She should have felt uncomfortable with her head being so close to him, though for some reason it felt natural. Despite the storm going on inside her head and the nagging feeling that something was wrong, being with the Doctor, any version of him, felt normal and right. 

“Hello!” The softness in his voice belied the redness in his eyes. She wondered how tired he must be in a part human body.

“Hi.” She stood and looked around, not finding much to hold her interest. Her mother was already walking out the exit. “I slept the entire time? Sorry. I hope you didn’t mind my mum for company the whole way.”

“Not at all! She was perfect company!” He stood up next her, eagerly taking her hand.

She knew what that meant in Doctor speak. “She slept the whole way too, didn’t she?”

“Yup!”

“You weren’t bored, were you?” They made their way out of the zeppelin leisurely. Enjoying their hands interlaced and the closeness between them, Rose didn’t mind waiting a little longer to get home. Once they stepped back onto the ground she saw a long car waiting for them and her mum already slummed in her sit.

“Ehhh, maybe a little bit. They brought me a book, but that was done with after a few seconds. It was rubbish! Really, I mean, bad romance novellas on a Vitex zeppelin? So I chatted with some of the hostesses. Did you know one of the hostesses, Betty, insisted on working for Vitex after the Cybermen incident? Her brother was turned into one and knowing Pete Tyler’s role in the whole thing, she couldn’t dream of working for anyone else.”

“You got to know the hostesses?” Jealousy was not a new feeling when it came to the Doctor. The Green Eyed Monster had been her constant companion since she realized she was in love with him.

“Had to talk to someone, didn’t I? I would have been bored to death otherwise.”

Once everyone was seated, the long car finally took off. Times like these she was incredibly grateful that her Dad was very rich. She didn’t have to worry about small details and delays.

No one talked on the way to the Tyler Estate. They all were too weary. It had been about six hours since they began traveling and the afternoon would soon be over.

Rose’s mind was a blur. She let her head drop down on the Doctor’s shoulder and he didn’t seem to mind. Their hands were firmly wrapped together which continued to lighten each beat of her heart. The reassurance she felt going home with him softened her confusion. The ugly pit beneath her felt smaller.

Less than two hours later, the car stopped beside the entrance to her home. The Doctor helped her out, grabbing her elbow when she was about to fall. Standing on wobbly feet, she looked up at him. His skin was pale and his eyes were too red to be healthy. Before she could mention his appearance, her Dad came out with Tony.

“Mummy!” Tony squealed his delight and swiftly tumbled forward with his small feet.

“Oh, my big boy! Did you miss mummy?” Her mother swept up the ginger haired, three-year-old in a very big hug.

“Welcome home Jacks.” Her Dad squeezed her mother with one arm and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“I’m going inside to spend quality nap time with Tony. Wake me for dinner.” Her mum turned to her and the Doctor, “You two get the proper rest you both need. No need to be on the job now.”

“Mum!”

Rose turned back to the Doctor, nervous about what she might see, but all she saw was a slightly amused expression on his face. “Sorry about–“

Her Dad cut in, offering his hand to the Doctor. “So we meet again, Doctor.” Her Dad smiled at her. “I knew she would find you. I am surprised to see you here and, honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The Doctor returned the smile and took his hand. “It’s always lovely to meet you again, Pete! Though the last few times meant disaster was coming, I’m sure those were all coincidences.”

“We shouldn’t have any trouble here, at least for awhile. I hope.” Her Dad led them into the house, stopping at the foyer. “Jackie informed me of your situation. I’m sorry for losses.”

“Well,” the Doctor rolled out the word, “I’ve gained a lot recently haven’t I? Whole new universe, more time with Rose, nothing too impossible to overcome.”

That feeling that something wasn’t right stabbed her sharply.

“In any case, you’ve saved my family and this world on more than one occasion. I can’t properly thank you for bringing us all together.” Her Dad adjusted his tie, “But I can try. A package is waiting for you in your room. And I’ve called for a tailor. I assumed you prefer your suits.”

“Oh, Pete! That’s wonderful! Absolutely magnificent! Pfft, really, you don’t have to thank me. Or repay me. But I will very graciously accept.” Though the Doctor still looked sickly, he beamed at her dad.

“I’ll be looking in on Jackie. Dinner should be served in a few hours. If you need anything, just let one of the staff know. Oh, and the tailor is waiting in the guest hall, down the second corridor to the left.” With that her Dad retreated up stairs.

“Did you hear that Rose? I’ve got a room, me in my own room. Who would have thought I’d have my own room in the Tyler estate?”

“Yeah, and you should use it. You look about ready to collapse.”

The false cheerful appearance he had moments before evaporated. “I’m fine Rose.”

“Yeah, ’m not buying that. Tell the tailor to bugger off and go to bed.”

“I don’t want to be rude. He’s probably been waiting all day. Don’t want to keep him waiting any longer. Who knows how long I’d have to wait for this opportunity to come again?”

She guffawed. “You, not being rude, that’s a first. Well alright, but if you fall asleep and he sticks a pin in you, it’s your own fault.”

“I guess we’ll find out if I’m pin cushion material.” He sounded much more entertained by that idea than he should be. Rose wanted to know what was going on in that head of his.

“No, you are. ’m going to bed, ’m completely knackered.”

He didn’t reply. Instead a thick, uneasy silence fell. He held her gaze, looking more overwhelmed then she had ever seen him. Rose realized she didn’t want to leave his side. She wanted to make sure that anything that could cause him to look so bereft would not dare touch him. It was a powerful pull. She shoved the feeling aside. Surely he could handle himself. Besides, she would be close by if he needed her. She placed a hand on his upper arm, offering him a small measure of comfort. 

“Sleep well, Rose Tyler.”

“Have fun being a pin cushion.” Her lips tugged upward at the thought.

After a few quiet moments caught in his stare, she turned and headed for the stairs. Rose climbed them slowly, holding onto the rail since she was beginning to feel her strength fail her. Once she reached the top step she looked back and saw him still watching her with a whisper of a smile.

Getting into bed and falling into blissful oblivion was just another needed distraction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta by: Thepuddinhead

~~~

Once Rose disappeared up the stairs and around the corner, the Doctor went directly to the guest hall where the tailor waited. He remembered this mansion thoroughly. While the furniture and the items on display had changed, the structure of the building had remained intact. He was stunned the Cybermen hadn’t blasted a new hallway through part of the house, but then again, parallel Cybermen, parallel expectations.

Thankfully, the fitting didn’t take too long. He was told that the suits and trousers would be ready in three days. He’d have to make do with the same suit in the meantime, but that wasn’t a big deal. He’d done worse in the past. A year in the same outfit was enough to leave a lasting impression, especially on the clothes. Before the tailor left, the Doctor asked him for a new pair of Chucks and a few fitted cotton shirts since he honestly didn’t feel like wearing ties.

Not wanting a tie or even a few oxfords was an itching, irritating feeling. He knew he was slightly different, having gone through a very complicated and unique regeneration, but he just didn’t want button up shirts and ties. They were now too knotty and constraining. He wondered what other things were different. He’d find out eventually. He just didn’t want to find out how much of a new man he was this very minute.

After the tailor he looked for his room, having to ask a maid to direct him. He found the room and opened the door slowly. Here was his new, stationary, though temporary, home. He saw a delightful welcome package waiting for him: jimjams, toothbrush, toothpaste, gel (which he hadn’t needed before and didn’t understand), shampoo that smelled like chemicals and flowers, and some bright colored soap were among some of the things prepared for him. They were neatly arranged on the bed. His room also featured an adjoining bath, a table and chairs, a desk, a closet for all his future clothes, and two bedside tables. It felt more like a first class hotel than a home. It would do for now. Though really, he had no choice.

His true home was an old spaceship that traveled through both time and space. It hummed and sang to him where ever he was. It kept him safe, it kept him happy, it kept him sane.

_No, no, no. Really. Not the time to think about this. Right! Inventory check!_

He reached into his larger-on-the-inside pockets to feel for the belongings he’d managed to grab before he’d been shoved out into this new universe. His finger delicately brushed the one thing that his other self had given him. He took out the TARDIS coral, examining it for a moment, wishing he could just blink and it would be fully grown. He then counted off the rest of his items, placing them neatly on the bed alongside his new belongings. First his psychic paper, then an old sonic screwdriver that glowed purple instead of blue, a yo-yo, a toy mouse, his brainy specs, a ball of rubber bands, his stethoscope, a dozen small parts of technology from the full grown TARDIS, a string bag of…something…he’d figure it out later. He found a slightly brown banana, and finally his 3D glasses he used to check Void Stuff. Everything he owned, all that was left to him.

In his nine hundred plus years of traveling he’d accumulated several house-full of stuffs. Several very large houses full of stuffs, not including his wardrobe, library, or other overflowing rooms of the TARDIS. He’d collected books from all across the universe and time, old books, new books, books that hadn’t been written, and books that weren’t supposed to be written.

That wasn’t his stuff anymore. The other version owned them. And he’d get his own things in no time. At least he hoped in no time. He didn’t have that much more time anymore. Time Lord with no time, it was funny, in a depressing sort of way.

Shaking his head, the Doctor put some of his things in the drawers, and organized the rest to go back into his pockets. He ate the banana and decided the best course of action before dinner would be to get to know the rest of the house. He never knew when an attack or adventure might come flying out of nowhere.

He wandered through the house, exploring every inch of every room of the Tyler Mansion. He even found a lost room no one knew of, and mapped the basement. He thought about checking the grounds, though the idea of leaving the house and being farther away from Rose than he currently liked, didn’t appeal to him.

The Doctor found a tablet computer lying on a desk in one of the family rooms and decided to look up what history was unique to this universe. He quickly found that a lot had happened. The Queen had died the night of the lupine wavelength haemovariform attack, which had still sparked Torchwood, just a very different and public one. It also caused a change in political power, so that Great Britain had a President rather than Prime Minister. All of history was slightly different here. But only just.

He ran across another article about the famous Doctor John Snow. It was distinctively different than the one he remembered and sparked his interest. This Doctor Snow was able to persuade just the right people, at the right time, to cull the outbreak of cholera and speed up the construction of the sewer system by twenty years. Snow had seemed to be good friends with both Joseph Bazalgette and Sir Francis Graham Moon. The mysterious connection between these three people bugged him. How did all that come about? If he had the TARDIS, he’d have been able to hop in and travel back to 1854 to investigate.

He sighed and stood. He had to stop this before he went too far. He needed sleep, only fear kept him from doing so. The first night after the Time War, when he needed to rest, the dreams and the nightmares and then the nothingness left him avoiding sleep for weeks afterwards. Time abandoned him in his dreams. And that was when he was full Time Lord and only needed an hour or so night’s sleep. Part human probably meant he needed more. The idea of needing hours of restoration in which everything that he pushed back from the forefront of his mind came forward to remind him of exactly who he was terrified him.

He was, with certainty, The Destroyer of Worlds. 

“Doctor, would you wake Rose? Dinner is ready.” Pete’s voice was like a hammer to his thoughts.

He eagerly spun around, thrilled at the idea of seeing Rose. “Right, will do! Hope your wife wasn’t our cook for the evening.”

“You and me, both. No, I can afford a very good chef.”

“Best thing really, for all of us. See you at dinner.”

Waking Rose infused him with purpose. In all honesty, he wanted to share the nap with her, together. He knew she needed time and so did he. Rushing things was just foolish. He didn’t want to ask too much of her. She was his guiding light, and truly, he was lost without her.

Her room was easier to find than his own. He considered, and not for the first time, that he might have a Rose Tyler sixth sense. He hoped that was the case.

Her door was partially open and he could see her things through the crack. Maybe it was just his impressive observational skills.

He knocked gently at first. “Rose?” Then he entered without permission.

~~~

She heard the Doctor calling her name from somewhere deep in her slumber. Immediately Rose sprang up, thinking about the worst day of her life. Her heart began to race until it decided to leap into her throat. With increasing awareness, Rose noticed that her bedroom lights were still on, that was different than that night. When she saw the Doctor standing inside her room, only a few feet from the door, she dropped back down, too relived and still too tired to do much else.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Come on now Rose. It’s highly improbable for me to give you a heart attack. You are far too young and healthy to experience an acute cardiac stress-induced trauma, otherwise known as being scared to death.”

“That’s good to know.” Her eyes traveled from his wild brown hair to his dirty red trainers. The stiffness in his posture, his pale face, and the fact his hands were stuffed in his pockets with his elbows jammed into his ribs told Rose he was utterly miserable. “Did you need anything?”

“Dinner’s ready. I’m here to wake you.”

If that was all, he shouldn’t have bothered. If he wasn’t going to talk about what was bothering him then she wasn’t going to push it. Pulling the covers over her shoulders, she gave him a pout. “Mmm, rather stay here, thanks.”

He took a couple steps closer to her bed. “You should know better. Skipping a meal is bad for you, especially after a day like today. I hear it’s being prepared by a very good chef, with succulent meats, buttery vegetables, and very fluffy mash. I’ll eat your entire portion if you don’t come down. No, I’ll share it with Tony. You’ll miss out on my sharing food with your baby brother. That should be something to see.”

Groggy enough to find food unappetizing, she turned to her side and wrapped the blankets around her as tightly as she could. “Do what you want.”

He didn’t reply. The following silence was pleasant enough that she was almost asleep when she heard the ruffling of clothes. She turned back to the Doctor, “What are you doing?”

He had taken off his trainers and his suit jacket, which he’d folded and hung neatly on a nearby chair. He then came over to the bed and climbed right into it, making himself comfortable. “Doing what I want. You said I could do what I want and what I want right now is to be right here. I’ve had two, well technically three, years away from you. And since you have this very big bed, and since we’ve shared lots of beds before in our travels, I thought you wouldn’t mind if we shared again.”

He lay on top of the covers with his head propped on his elbow, looking far too innocent and tempting than he should. She’d been away from him as long as he had been away from her. He was the man she loved more than she could ever imagine, and she longed to have him here with her now, in bed.

“You have to agree to be my pillow first.” His eyebrows shot towards his messy hair line when she moved to wrap her arms around him and settle her head onto his chest. He was motionless for a split second before he sighed and relaxed into her embrace.

“Your wish is my command. For tonight I’ll be your part human, part Time Lord pillow, free of charge.”

Rose fell back to sleep listening to his one heart beat and feeling very hopeful about their future.

~~~

The Doctor opened his eyes to stare into a room of solid blackness. Immediately he knew he was dreaming. Inside his mind, his dreams were coming alive, unbidden from his conscious thoughts. He only had to wake himself to escape whatever was coming next. But that never proved to be easy once he was here, in this gloomy place. A figure approached and he knew who it was, even in the dark, muddled surroundings. It was him, in a crisp brown suit and tie with a long brown coat. He looked down to make sure he was clothed; he could never tell what his dreams would conjure up as a good punishment. He wore a wrinkled and dirty blue suit, a fitting costume for his current state of mind.

“You’re not me,” the other one spoke. “I’ve got two hearts and the TARDIS. What do you have, hmm?”

“I have Rose.” He hated how broken his voice sounded.

“Really? Are you sure about that? How long will you have her? A year? Two? I give it a few days, at the most. Then you’ll have nothing.”

No, that wasn’t true. “We both know that’s-” He took a step toward the other him, about to give himself a very convincing lecture, when he slipped through the cracks in the darkness and found himself in another room.

The room belonged to Rose. It was her room in the Tyler Mansion. He wondered if he’d woken until he saw Davros at the door, standing strong and powerful with the darkness at his back.

“Doctor, I have not left you. We have been through too much to leave each other so easily.” Davros quickly shortened the distance between them. “Let me show you who you are.”

Before he could reply, Davros grabbed him by the neck, hauling him into the air, twisting him around so he could see the bed. Rose laid there, twisted and mangled, her blood soaking the mattress. Her eyes were open and she was staring at him, fear and disappointment permanently etched on her dead face.

 A gurgled “No!” escaped his lips before Davros released him.

The Doctor fell backwards into a darker, inky abyss. He was falling through a sea of dead Daleks, freed from their cages, all dead because of him. Their slimy remains clung to him, becoming part of him. When he finally stopped falling he found himself in a fragile glass bubble.

He was floating in a pool of blood, and above him were Time Lords and Ladies, their dead bodies contorted into a half sphere inside the bubble. He saw his family, his mother and father, his wife and their children. Their life became rain, falling upon him, creating the very thing he was floating in. Closing his eyes, he turned away. He had to wake himself before he was pulled under. Foolishly, he opened his eyes and saw Rose next to him, sinking into the depths of his despair. He watched as the last of her was finally enveloped. He tried to grab onto her, but he then was sucked into the crimson pool. He couldn’t drown; instead, he was submerged in the dead. And only darkness and shadow were there to keep him company.

~~~

He gasped. The Doctor opened his eyes to see he was still lying in bed. The lights were out and he was under the covers. Someone, probably him, had gotten up to do so. Rose still slept peaceful beside him. Her chest rose and fell with each breath. That was almost enough to stop him from remembering.

Dreams were just a collection of images and memories that needed to be sorted and properly alchemized, nothing more.  He couldn’t help shaking. It was just his body’s way of coping with the heightened different chemical compounds surging through him because of the mental and emotional stimulation.

“Doctor? What’s wrong?”

His tremors must have woken her. He should have known that they would; he was shaking like a leaf in a storm.  He looked at her, ready to say he was fine and to reassure her that all would be well, when he caught her eyes. In them he could see the universe he sorely missed, not only that universe, but the Time Vortex. It was only a memory, when she was Bad Wolf, but that memory held everything that was and would be, now her eyes were soft, loving even, and filled with concern.

She placed a hand on his chest and his single heart began to beat rapidly. Something began to unwind somewhere in him and when it finally came undone, it snapped violently in place.

All he wanted and needed was absolution. He desired sanctuary.

“Rose.” He placed his hands on the sides of her face, pulling her to him, and kissed her with all the force of his realization.  His wild emotions drove him forward. Time, in this body, wasn’t the same. It was too slow and muffled, as if he was deep under water and time was above the surface. The panic he had held securely in place burst forth from its cage with all the anger and resentment that came with it.

Her hands rested on his chest where both his hearts had once been, and she carefully slid her hands arms around him. Rose pulling him in for a close embrace sent his mind farther down the road to insanity. He rolled so that he could be on top of her. The idea of feeling her body and touch with every part of his own body was consuming him.

He deepened the kiss, opening his mouth and dipping his tongue within her. Feeling her from the inside brought him closer to his purpose. The more he kissed her, the more wetness he felt on his lips and mouth, the more he wanted to melt into her. He wanted to crawl inside and find that sanctuary that he so desperately needed.

She wrapped a leg around one of his and her hands began to wander down his back. She kissed him with the same force and want as he gave. She sighed between the press of their lips and the air from her mouth caressed his cheeks. He was flooded with thoughts of her body and her essence, all within his grasp. He could be part of her, where their hearts could join, and he could be whole.

His hands made their way down her chest, down to her waist. He didn’t hesitate to reach under the material and feel her bare skin. He played with the band of her trousers and her knickers, seeking the warmth of her body. Moving up, feeling the dip of her stomach, and the curve of her hips, up to her ribcage. Pressing his fingers hard against her along the way, his hands finally came to rest. She gasped as he touched and cupped her bare breasts. He squeezed them once, then ran his fingertips across the sensitive nubs.  Rose let out another low and throaty gasp in response. He quickly extracted his hands from her skin and began to unbutton her top.

Rose began to pull at his shirt and he obliged her, taking it off in one swift movement.

It wasn’t long before they were completely undressed, bare skin to bare skin. He continued his onslaught of kisses, pressing his lips to her chin, down her neck, making his way down her body. He tightened his hold on her shoulders. As he took a breast into his mouth he dropped his hands to her sides, pressing his fingertips into every crevasse he could find. Rubbing her skin, seeking more of her, he wanted to take every inch he could.

It wasn’t enough.

He slowly sought out the lower regions of her body. He took in the flow of her backside, sliding his fingers along her rear. She ran her hands through his hair, pulling at the stands, urging him to continue. The bliss of her hands in his hair stopped him. He closed his eyes, wanting to freeze this moment forever.

“Doctor…” Rose’s pleading moan sent an icy thrill throughout him. The title he had given himself was only a sharp reminder of things he had done.

With his mouth on her abdomen, placing desperate kisses between words, he said, “Don’t call me that.”

He felt her still. He glanced upward and their eyes met. He made his way up her body leisurely, touching her in every place he could, a hand on her hip, her side, a breast, her arm, and finally her shoulders. He leaned in; his head nestled next to hers, his lips to her ear.

With a knee he pulled apart her legs and very deliberately told her his full name. The name he kept hidden from everyone, even himself. He needed to be that man now. He needed Rose to take him in fully. He needed her to give him what he sought.

The Doctor felt Rose’s lungs fill with air in shocked awe. She sighed and wrapped her legs around him, forcing his hip to hers. She tentatively whispered his name, her voice breaking on the vowels. He tightened his hold on her. His name escaping from her lips exposed his soul and fed into his deepening desire to escape within her.

He moved his hips to enter her. When she spoke his name again, he lost all sense of place. The third time she spoke it, a maddened desire to rush inside her took over and he thrust forward. Rose loudly screamed his name again in pleasure and he lost the last bit of thought he could retain. His pace was a fast frenzied rhythm. With each beat of his name on her lips he pushed deeper into her.

In his need to lose himself within her, the universe around him ceased to be, time stood still, and nothing could penetrate this paradise. He found his sanctuary. 

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding her to him in a tense embrace, continuing on with his fevered dance. He immediately knew when Rose began to pivot her hips towards his own, seeking her own pleasure. He released his hold on her to slide his hand between them. He fondled her delicate folds, feeling for her more sensitive areas. Softly, and with as much care as he could, he stroked her delicately. He began to thrust his hips in an upward motion, slowing down only enough to make sure he was hitting the right spot, knowing acutely the anatomy of the female human body, knowing just what to do to stimulate the ecstasy in her that she was giving him. 

When she cried out his name once again, his pride swelled with the acknowledgement. It was enough to free him from his last restraints and devour her. He grabbed her; his fingers still leaving small valleys across her skin, and began to intensify his pace.

With a final burst, he moaned his delight. He felt himself spread within Rose and knew for this moment he was part of her. They were one. Nothing could penetrate this feeling of perfect benediction.

As he slowed, his head began to clear, and realization dawned.

“Doctor.” Rose used his title. Doctor was the name of his reality, of who he was now and forever.

In that moment he knew that the thing he needed, the sanctuary he had craved, was false. It was a momentary escape. He could not out run his demons or his shadow.

He stared at Rose, laid out before him. Her skin glowed a bright pink in the aftermath. She was absolutely gorgeous, with the beauty and power of her namesake. She stared right back at him, issuing a challenge for him to say something or make the next move. He couldn’t. His was a coward now, unable to do anything but look upon her.

Instead, her face changed to one of understanding and she reached out weakly. He took her in his arms without hesitation. She couldn’t see what was emerging on his face now. He knew she would only find regret and fear.

Rose slowly relaxed in his arms. Her breathing began to even out and soon she was asleep, obviously completely sedated by the prolactins and endorphins running throughout her system. As soon as he could, he gently released her, making sure she was comfortable. He covered her to keep her warm and then searched for his clothes.

To some it might seem natural. She was in love with him; he was in love with her. This was the way these things progress. But it wasn’t just that. It was anything but just that! Their circumstances were complex and different than an ordinary human couple. He wasn’t even fully human, he was only part. And it was worse because it was him.

After he was fully dressed, he sat down on the side of the bed. He covered his face with his hands. He felt completely wretched. In so many ways he’d lost Rose the moment he spoke her name tonight. He acted like a crazed, blinded beast. He’d practically attacked her! He hadn’t asked her if she wanted it, hadn’t consulted with her if she was ready. He’d taken what he needed from her. And oh, did he need her. Now more than ever, she was the one thing keeping him grounded and afloat in a world turned upside down. What would happen if he needed her touch again? Slowly he ran his hands down in face in defeat.

There wasn’t any going back now. There was nowhere to run. He couldn’t leave her, but she wasn’t safe with him. He just – he just needed to keep his distance. No touching, no hand holding, no embraces, and it was probably best to avoid eye contact.

That was the solution. He breathed in deep and stood. He left Rose’s room, not daring to look back. Knowing what he needed to do, he went to his room. He cleaned up, taking a long cold shower, dressing in his one blue suit and a new white cotton shirt that had been part of his welcome package. He paced between the window and his bed, needing to expend the rest of his pent up energy.

He thought about all the steps he would have to take to grow his TARDIS. Finally, after he felt semi-normal, he pulled the chair from his desk and took out his glowing purple sonic screwdriver, the dozen little parts from the old TARDIS, along with the coral, and began to work.

Once he had the TARDIS he could take Rose to different places and show her all of time and space. They could discover the differences of this universe together, only not together - _together_. If he couldn’t give her that type of relationship, he could, at the very least, give her the stars.

After a few hours, with the first rays of the morning sun coming into his windows, a stray thought flittered through his mind. How had Doctor John Snow met Joseph Bazalgette? That should have been nearly impossible. What had caused such a thing to occur? Who must have introduced them?

He wondered if he could find that tablet computer again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by: Thepuddinhead

Rose opened her eyes.  She stretched, feeling wonderfully rested. Even better, she felt whole. Last night, with the Doctor beside her and then with her, she’d felt a release from a torment that had been bottled-up for years. Finally she could be with the Doctor and share _every_ aspect of her life with him. To make things even better, that pull to some endless pit no longer plagued her thoughts or her feelings.

Perhaps she understood the Doctor better now - not just this one, but both Doctor’s actions on the beach. She wasn’t confused anymore. The ache that she felt for the Doctor who was alone somewhere beyond the void still hadn’t left, but she knew it would heal in time, to eventually become a sad but fond memory.  That Doctor wouldn’t be able to give her anything but the stars; this Doctor wanted to give himself to her fully.

He’d told her his name. He’d told her his actual name. Not just a title he had given himself or something someone called him but his real birth name. She knew what that meant. She inhaled deep, ready to tackle the day and the rest of the things that were hanging above both their heads. As he’d said yesterday, this was only a beginning.

The rumbling in her stomach told her that she needed to eat. Breakfast sounded delightful.

Rose turned to greet the Doctor, hoping to wake him gently. She was greeted by empty sheets. She huffed out her disappointment. This was the Doctor after all; laying about in bed was probably the last place he’d be in the morning.

Rose got up and showered, relishing the hot water on her skin and muscles. Afterwards, she dressed in her normal jeans, shirt, jacket combo, anxious to eat and spend the day with the Doctor, whatever they got up to. 

She could probably match his pace or even out do him now. She had tons of ideas to go along with his crazy made up plans. She almost felt like the last couple of years were peeling off her and she was turning into the human equivalent of a Time Lord. She had Torchwood at her fingertips, another plus where the Doctor was concerned. Being the resident alien expert for so long and the woman who saved their sorry bums on more than one occasion, she practically ran the place.

When she entered the breakfast room, she saw only the Doctor, in his blue suit and a white cotton shirt, his face buried in one of the tablets and a spoon in one hand, absently eating a bowl of oatmeal. In the center of the table was a lavish assortment of breakfast foods.

“Morning.” She sat down next to him and began to pull a few dishes her way.

Without turning to greet her, he said in a cheerful but distracted voice, “Good Morning!”

“It’s Saturday today, I think. We got a few days before I need to go back to Torchwood. When I do, did you want to come?” She had to admit she was nervous about the idea. Would he decide to blow the place up?

Without even a glance her way, he continued to eat his meal. “Do you know anything about the construction of the sewer systems in London around the 1850s?”

“Sorry?” Rose wasn’t surprised that he’d just completely ignored her, though it irked her slightly.

“No, you’re right! Sorry, so sorry! What were you saying?” He turned to glance at her for a brief second before turning back to the tablet. That was definitely odd, even for him. 

“Did you want to go to Torchwood with me on Monday? See what we’ve been up to?”

“Oh, that’s sounds brilliant. I would love to. Only, I don’t care for the idea of working for them if that is what you had in mind.”

“They’re different. I thought you knew that.” She really hadn’t thought of him working there. Her only goal was to impress him.

 “Oh, I know. Believe me, I know. With you working for them, they’re probably the best version of Torchwood in all the different parallels universes. I was just thinking of worming my way into this universe’s version of UNIT for the time being. You on one front, me on the other. We’d be able to do just about anything then! That is until I get the TARDIS grown. Then we’d be back as the old team again.”

“I’m definitely Shake this time around.”

“No, definitely not!”

The entire time they were talking, Rose noticed the Doctor had hardly moved from his seat. He scarcely looked at her. He barely pulled his focus from the tablet to talk to her. Was he embarrassed about last night? Did he regret it? Was it her?

No, something was up. “Doctor-”

“Fancy a trip to Soho?”

“I-I suppose, why Soho?”

“See a bit of the city. Do some sightseeing. Parallel universe filled with goodies just waiting to be discovered! This time we’re allowed to venture out. I only got to see a small part of it last time I was here. And if Soho is not so different from our world, we’d have all those lovely variety of good places to eat.”

Sightseeing hardly sounded like something the Doctor would have really wanted to confine himself to, but if that’s what he wanted, she didn’t have any objections. “Sounds like a plan. Let me write a note to Mum and Dad, then we can be on our way.”

“Right! Meet you at the door.” He left his seat and took his bowl with him, leaving the tablet behind. She could hear him in the kitchen, putting his dishes in the sink.

Glancing over at the tablet, she saw the article he’d been reading from the morning news feed. Five people had gone missing from Soho within the last week, practically vanishing from thin air. Right, just sight-seeing.

She left a note to her parents letting them know she’d be out for most of the day and then called for the family car. She let the Doctor wait just a bit longer at the front door for trying to deceive her. Taking out her mobile, she called Torchwood and requested every single piece of information they had on the vanishings in Soho to be downloaded to her phone. She let her deviousness curve her lips and she went to join to the Doctor. She saw him waiting patiently just outside, looking at the car as if were some sort of torture device. When he saw her, he made no move to stand beside or open the door for her. He remained set on scarcely even looking at her.

Distractions, sought out adventures, and odder than normal behavior. Something was up with him. She’d give him more time and sooner or later he’d have to talk to her.

~~~

This was torture. Sitting beside Rose in a tightly confined space after last night, was enough to make the Doctor realize how the universe varied greatly when it came to torture techniques. He’d prefer to be eaten by Sorgwa Fish on the Moon Planet Jidaisha than endure this, or dumped into the revolving dead sun of the Horunt solar system. 

Was this what he deserved? This was true punishment. Having everything he wanted right before him, only he couldn’t touch. Maybe the other him had the better deal. Least he had the TARDIS as a means of escape. Taking a quick peek over to Rose, he thought again. Might be torture, but he was here with her and he could live a life, a different one, where death would finally and absolutely greet him at the end of their run.

He had a restless desire to grab her hand, but instead looked straight ahead and concentrated on the reason he’d insisted upon their destination. Five people had gone missing in Soho recently. All of them had mysteriously disappeared without a trace. It made him wonder.  Then there were the bizarre differences between this history and the history that should have been. Small variations between universes was a normal occurrence, but these changes were a bit too big to ignore.

The silence grew too loud; it was affecting his ability to think.

 “Who picked out the oatmeal?”

“Hmm?” Rose was the one who seemed to be distracted now.

“The oatmeal this morning. It was delicious. Oat groats with just the right amount of beta-glucan, fibre, and those little crunchy nuts. Serve more of that and I might never leave the house.”

“Oh, Mum coordinates with the chef on what to buy. She might be a terrible cook, but you got to admit she’s got great taste.”

“I suppose. She did marry Pete and have you. And you have top-notch taste. She must have done something right.”

“She also picked out the new furniture. Do you like?”

He felt a little flabbergasted by that statement and at his forgetfulness. He tried, and failed, to meet her eyes. “Did she now? I’m shocked and amazed. Those couches aren’t half bad. Are we really talking about your mother and interior decorating?”

“Welcome to Pete’s World.” The Doctor could tell when Rose was silently laughing at him.

“If that’s my welcome I think I’d rather go back to the void.” It was meant as a joke, though he heard his own voice cover a bit of the truth.

Rose might have heard it too. “Would you though? Go back to the void, or really, the other universe, if you had the chance?”

He didn’t want to answer that. “Would you?”

She didn’t answer either. Rose’s home was here, but most of her life, her other family and friends was there, on the other side. He was the same. They both wanted to go back and both knew they couldn’t.

The car finally stopped near Broadwick Street, in the heart of Soho.  The Doctor couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. Rose stepped out confidently; her footing was sure, and she was radiant. The sleep she’d received yesterday had done its trick. The Doctor wanted to grab her hand and rush head on into whatever awaited them, but held back; knowing that he still had to keep that barrier between them, for her sake.

“Where to first, Sarge?” She tried to grab his hand, but he stepped ahead of her a few feet, trying his best to avoid contact.

“Oh, I figured we could check out the famous Pump. That’s something to see! We can take pictures, like tourists.”

“You want to see a pump?” She certainly had a dirty mind; he could almost hear it in his own.

“It’s a famous pump. Water pump, a memorial made out to Doctor John Snow for his discovery that cholera was spread by water, not air. In the other universe no one wanted to believe him. Certainly not the waterworks companies; they’d lose a fortune if that bit got out. Though from what I understand, in this universe people listened.”

“I think I remember reading something about that in the history books. You think this has something to do with the people missing?”

“Where did you get that idea?” Was she on to him?

“Oh, I don’t know. Tablet left open on the breakfast table?” She blinked at him, the perfect picture of feigned innocence. “One of the victim’s families lives around here if you want to talk them after we see the pump.”

She was on to him, alright, and she was brilliant. “That’s what I love about you. Always thinking ahead.”

She stopped and he turned around. He took a deep inhale and waited.

“That’s what you love about me?” She looked tentative through her emerging smile. His fingers itched to reach out and touch her.

Daring to take a step closer, he looked right at her, one more time. “And so much more.” He could say all things he loved about her, so many reasons why he wanted to stay and live out his one life with her beside him. He just couldn’t. He was too dangerous to her. “Come on, we have a mystery to solve!” He turned promptly and increased his pace, hoping to put a few feet of distance between them.

“So, is sight-seeing the new code for sticking our noses into things were aren’t supposed to?”

She had recovered fast, thankfully. “We are doing the city a favor. It’s not sticking our noses into anything; it’s getting the job done. And I had to make sure to get you out of the house somehow. Sight-seeing sounded less, less-”

“Dangerous? Reckless? Impulsive? Shall I go on?”

“Yes, I mean no! No, don’t go on. I got your point.” He was feeling irritated now. He was putting Rose through all those things. It was just another reason for her to stay away from him.

“Doctor?” She grabbed his arm before he could stop her and it put him further on edge. Her hand was warm and comforting. So easy to go over and forget who he was and what he done.

“Yes, what now?” He stopped and tried to think of way to slip away from her touch, no matter how much he longed for the comfort of her hand in his.

“You’d have had an easier time getting me out of the house if you’d told me the truth. Did you forget who you’re talking to? One of the reasons I came back was because I love this almost as much as I love you.”

He strongly related to that sentiment. It was another reason why he loved her. And there it was again, the word love, so easy to slip it into conversations between them. The more he loved her, the closer she became, the stronger he felt the desire to protect her. He wanted to keep her safe and away from harm. He couldn’t lose her.

Only, he wouldn’t love her as much as he did if it wasn’t for her equal taste in dangerous, risky activities. He was very much in a pickle.

“I’ll remember that for next time.” He continued forward, too distracted by the added worry to notice Rose’s arm was still looped with his own.

“That’s more like it. Come on then, Allons-y!”

Oh, that sounded horrific coming from her. “No, really, really don’t do that. I have dibs on that phrase. Or just refrain from trying to speak in another language. Or accent.”

Further down the road the Doctor noticed the area seemed to be devoid of humans. It felt like a ghost town. The shops were mostly closed and no cars passed them on the street. By the time they got to the pump he wondered if things weren’t far worse than he’d originally thought.

Rose moved closer to him, lowering her voice to a whisper, “The people in the windows look terrified.”

“Course they do. Something is snatching people out of thin air.”

“You don’t think it’s another Isolus?”

“No, something in the air doesn’t smell right. It’s more moldy and wet. Hold on.” Immediately he saw something was strange with the Memorial Pump. It was dripping water when it wasn’t supposed to. The base of the pump, which sat upon two cement platforms, one smaller than the other, was covered in lime and rust. Sticking out of the head of the pump was a gooey, little white tendril. “What’s this?”

He knelt beside the pump to get a better look. Pulling out his brainy specs, he thought about all the probable space material and/or species it could be.

“What is that? Some kind of pipe gunk?” she asked.

“Possibly, or it could be one of several tiny sentient beings from another planet.” When he tried to touch the tendril it began to swing about violently. “Whoa! Shush. Shush. Looks like we got a live one here! Let me see if I can just-” He then quickly pinched the tendril before it could retaliate. It broke off the moment his fingers clasped on. “Huh, seems like it was just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Maybe I should call Torchwood if it’s alien. We could have a team down here-”

“No, no need!” He sprang up to stop her. “We’ll figure this out on our own. Just need to do a bit of sleuthing.” He put the tendril to his mouth and gave it a quick lick.

“Doctor!” Rose’s panic was justified. As soon as he took a lick he spit and slobbered everything he could out of his mouth. Whatever it was, it had been acidic and fowl.

“Forgot I was part human, couldn’t get an accurate reading, though I did taste some linalool and a small amount of carbon.”

“Which means? Oh, some sort of carbon based life form?”

His eyes widened in adoration. He was tempted to forget his worries and kiss her right there and then. She kept surprising him. “Why Rose Tyler, you’re speaking my lingo.”

“I think I got a few more tricks up my sleeve. And you’re not kissing me with that mouth until you’ve rinsed.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the Doctor froze. He wouldn’t be kissing her at all. Not after what he did to her. He tried his best to look away from her. Her presence felt like a red giant star, and he was orbiting her. He could see nothing but her, feel nothing but her heat close by, and could barely make out the rest.

Shaking himself, he thought about all the possible species the tendril could belong to. He pocketed the slimy sample. “This could be from a Rerlipial’s Vine. Only they were green and red not white. Besides, their planet was destroyed ages ago. None of them should have survived, much less be hanging about in Soho.”

“Different universe, Doctor.”

Did she have to mention that? “Oh, right, they could all be well and alive then. But Rerlipials were a peaceful race, they wouldn’t go snatching people…then again, in a new universe they could be vicious beasts. I feel like I’m out of my league. Anything is possible.” He grinned at the thought, “Fantastic!”

“Good thing I got a few years lead time here, yeah? I can help fill in some of the gap.”

“Do you know about the Rerlipials from this universe?”

“I might. Just need to go to the Torchwood Library. It’s a public one.” Before he could stop her, she was pulling his arm forward, “But first, let’s go talk to that family.”

To keep himself from focusing on her hands touching him again, he nodded vigorously and tried to concentrate on their current puzzle, “Cover all possible leads! Good thing I took you along.”

Rose was too engrossed with her phone to reply, pulling up the information he guessed came from Torchwood.  While he waited for her to finish, he glanced around the area once more. There was lime residue in the gutters and crusted around the drains all along the street.

With her face still stuck to the phone, Rose announced, “This way,” and began walking. Releasing his arm, she went ahead and he followed. He was feeling both proud and slightly jealous. She was too brilliant for him to even properly describe. She knew almost right from the start why they were here. She had the knowledge and foresight that they needed, and she was ready to dive in to whatever they found. She was a Super Rose, more so than he’d ever known. His single heart expanded with love for her and ached at the knowledge he’d never be able to truly be with her again. He was too dangerous.

She stopped in front of a bright red door.  “They should be here. Ready?”

“Ready as ever!” He pulled out his Psychic Paper and noticed she pulled out something too.

After a few knocks, a woman with bags under her eyes, saggy skin, and an oversized gray sweater opened the door. “Can I help you?” Her voice cracked as though she’d been crying.

“Hello, I’m Rose Tyler, from Torchwood, and this is the Doctor.” Rose showed the woman her ID and then indicated him with a slight lift of her hand.

He took charge, feeling slightly like his old self. “Hello! I’m also from the Torchwood Institute.” He flashed his Psychic Paper, “We would like to ask you a few questions regarding…” He glanced over to Rose for help and she immediately continued.

“Your missing husband. Can you tell us anything about what happened?”

The woman hugged herself closer, absently pulling on her sweater. “We were walking to get coffee over on Foubert’s and he stopped for a moment to, well, I don’t know what he was doing, but when I turned back to tell him to hurry on, he was gone.”

“And you said this happened on Foubert’s?” Rose asked.

“Yes, just about a block away.”

“Thank you. ’m sorry about your husband. We’re doing everything we can.” Rose flashed an apologetic smile. He could see that Rose honestly cared. Of course she did. Her soft facial features and the intense conviction in her eyes told him as much.

The Doctor nodded to the woman as she closed the door. Again, he was impressed. Rose, his better half, could run the show from now on. Did she even need him anymore?

It didn’t take them long to get to Foubert’s Place. The area was eerily deprived of people as well. It was covered in that white limy stuff, though. The gutters were painted with it and along with some other weird residue. The drains and the little cracks on the sidewalk were all coated with the same thing. It had to come from somewhere.

Rose looked around in confusion. “I think this is also where another vanishing happened. It was on the report.”

“What report? The Torchwood one?”

“That’s the one. You can look at it when we get to the library. Do you see anything? Doctor?”

“Yes, more lime.” He already had a feeling where they should be headed beside the library, but he needed more information before charging into a dark, damp, disgusting place. “I think it’s time we head to that library.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the wonderful Puddinhead!

The empty wooden library, surrounded in large pillars and rows of dilapidated shelves, echoed the sounds of old paper being shifted from left to right. After a couple hours of searching through books, Rose was sure her back would need to be readjusted. She had gone through the all of Torchwood records that covered the entire Westminster area, but she hadn’t found any clues about what could possibly be the source of the vanishings. 

The Doctor squinted through his glasses and continued to read. There was definitely something going on in that big brain of his. He was withdrawn and irritable. No, that was the Doctor on a normal day. The way he was acting now was if he was light years away from her. He opened up last night, not with words, but with touch and action. They had been going somewhere, but now they were fully stopped and in danger of going backwards.

He had, from the moment the TARDIS disappeared, been the reason she had been able to feel any sort of forward motion for herself. He’d stopped her from falling into an ugly place. She had hoped she would be able to do the same for him.

“Oh, hello.” The Doctor stood and continued to stare at the book before him.

She got up as fast as she could and made her way to his side. The book he was looking at contained the family records of St. Luke’s Church. “What’d you find?”

“A falsified report. It’s very good, almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing unless you’ve got me. The Spears Family, particularly Rose Spears, shouldn’t exist. Lovely name by the way. And this,” He pulled out an old decaying photograph from the pages of the book, “is a picture of Rose. She’s an alien disguised as a human. Brilliant costume, hardly noticeable, except you can almost see the color of her eyes and hair. You shouldn’t be able to see that unless the silver used when taking this photo picked up more than an image, but her essence. Very few creatures can do that, and combined with our little discovery at the pump, it narrows it down to one.”

“What is she then?”

“A Rerlipial. I was right. Only that leads to more questions. What was she doing here and for what purpose? Obviously, she had to have been the one to introduce Doctor Snow to the right people. It’s all right here. He went to this church.”

“You said the construction of the London sewers were created twenty years earlier because people listened. What if this alien had been the one to make people listen? ”

There was a loaded pause as the whole library grew silent, the roar of the Doctor being hit by an idea then blasted between the aisles.

“Oh, of course!” The Doctor grabbed both sides of his head to pull and ruffle his hair. He then began to pace back and forth. “That’s it! It’s all falling in to place now. Adult Rerlipials use certain pheromones that can fog up a human brain; a simple touch can carry over onto human skin. She introduced John Snow to Joseph Bazalgette and Sir Francis Graham Moon by using those pheromones and they then passed it on to the people they met, a domino effect that she used to her advantage for the construction of the underground sewer system. And there is only one reason to manipulate that many people to get that type of construction started: to hide something. Come on, we have some sewer diving to attend to.”

“Sewer diving? I hope you don’t mean that literally.” She was all for going to strange places, but the sewers weren’t one of them.

“Course I do.” With a big smile he took off running. He didn’t take her hand; he still hardly looked her in the eye. She watched his retreating back and wondered what had spooked him so much that he couldn’t stand her touch. After a few frustrating and perplexing moments she took off after him.

They ran a couple of blocks until the Doctor spotted a manhole cover. He took out his sonic and began to whirl it round the edges. “Help me lift, on three.”

She stood next to him and placed her fingers inside the hooks of the lid. “Is this gonna work?”

“I slightly adjusted the metal compounds on the lid, should be easy as pie.” He gave her a swift glance, “Oh, maybe we should have pie later.”

“If we have an appetite.”  She knew she was going to smell later. _They_ were going to smell, badly. Or maybe even contract some kind of disease.

“And three!”

Together they lifted the lid on the manhole and immediately she regretted her large intake of breath. “Oh, god.”

“Don’t be so fussy. It’s only a,” he swallowed and didn’t sound very convincing, “fairly rancid smell. Down we go! Allons-y!” He went in, using the step latter to crawl downwards, and within seconds was swallowed by darkness.

“I’m probably going to regret this.” She followed him, feeling the rusted crummy metal rods of the latter as she went down, trying not to take deep breaths.

They were still fairly close to Soho. The Torchwood Libraries were scattered throughout the country and most of the world for the easy access of agents on the field. She’d been prepared for all kinds of dire situations that called for all sorts of demands on her body, but being waist-deep in sludge that came from places she really didn’t want to admit wasn’t one of them. Apart from the sludge, she was a bit excited to find out what was down here, being with the Doctor almost made the experience bearable. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see him, let alone hear him, as the cracks in the walls let water fall to the basin below in loud drumming splats.

“Doctor?”

“Here, right here! This better?” He held up his purple sonic, which was gradually intensifying in brightness.

“Didn’t know your sonic could do that.” The light certainly captivated her. It bounced off the dreary dark brick walls, filling the sewer with an array of lavenders, plums, and amethysts. The Doctor could bring things of beauty to the worst kind of places.

“This one can. Has a larger central reverberating crystal. Did you find anything on the Rerlipial’s home world in those records of yours?”

“No, just a bit of scribble about a possible plant-like alien coming to Earth in the eighteenth century.”

“Hmm, that’s a disappointment. Perhaps we’ll find the rest of our answers somewhere close-by.”

They trudged forward, following a twisted path the Doctor seemed focused on, though she didn’t know how he was deciding on which path to take. The water was chilly and the air was sickeningly heavy. Every so often they were showered with large vats of liquid from long fissures in the bricks that lined the top of the sewer. Rats crawled by on the ledges, squeaking their displeasure at the light and intrusion. After what felt like an eternity, the Doctor stopped. She followed his gaze and saw the top of the sewer lined with white, slippery vines. They lead further down a small decrepit tunnel which held less water.

The Doctor picked up his pace and the idea of running or sloshing through towards their destination was exhilarating. It was better than the lifeless pace they were going with before. After passing several caved in tunnels, they found what they were looking for. It was a part of the wall of the sewer, collapsed from age, revealing another larger tunnel, three feet above the current water line. This tunnel had been covered up, probably for centuries. From deep within the unknown tunnel she could see very large and thick white vines. They were reaching out freely and exploring the new air.

Helping her onto the ledge, the Doctor spoke in a cheerful voice. “I hope these Rerlipials are as peaceful as the ones in the other universe. What do you say to the idea of meeting them? New friends might be just around the bend!”

They took a step inside the hidden tunnel and all hell broke loose.

The large white vines began to whip about chaotically. New smaller vines began to appear from within the blackness father in and started to assault both her and the Doctor hard, enough to break their skin. Immediately the Doctor’s sonic was knocked from his hand.  She was pulled away from the Doctor, both of them banging into the sides of the tunnel. They tried to retreat but the onslaught was too great. Rose curled forward, trying to protect her head and torso. She saw the Doctor do the same. There was no stopping these things. She felt one hit her side and heard her bones crack.

“We mean you no harm. We’ve come to help. Whatever you are doing, whatever you plan on doing, don’t! Just listen and stop this.” The Doctor tried, but the vines would not cease or slow.

Rose felt the air squeeze out of her lungs as a large vine wrapped around her tightly.

“Rose!” The Doctor tried to reach her, but the wild whipping of the roots blocked his every attempt.

She couldn’t move; the vines were covering more and more of her body with each second. “Doctor!”

The Doctor dived for his sonic. Rose felt a quick tug and then another; she knew she was moving closer and closer to the dark abyss far beyond the tunnel’s mouth. Then, in a flash of movement she was flying into nothingness and she knew no more.

~~~

Amidst the onslaught of vines and roots lashing out, the Doctor heard Rose‘s scream traveling farther into the dark reaches of the tunnel. He looked up to see her being swallowed by the blackness.

“Rose!” It was no use. She was gone.

He used all his strength to crawl along the floor of the tunnel to the mouth, trying to escape from the attacking appendages. As soon as he felt the rough rocky ledge of the tunnel, he threw himself into the murky, disgusting water below. He swam as far he could before coming back up. He had in his hand his sonic, undamaged and whole.  But it was no use against those vines. He stood, his face a mask to hide his searing rage and agony. He couldn’t go back into the tunnel after Rose.

A fear unlike any he’d ever experienced crept up from the bottom of his stomach then quickly dominated his entire being. The vision of seeing Rose sucked into the dark tunnel was too similar to the one he remembered years ago, when he almost lost Rose to the Void. He thought he had lost her forever then, when she was trapped within Pete’s World.

Had they killed her, here and now? Had he finally lost her for all of eternity?

He yelled at the top of his lungs, with all his might as a part human, part Time Lord man, “You listen to me. You have made a very, very big mistake. You’ve taken my friend-,” no, that wasn’t right, she wasn’t just his friend, not now, not ever again, “You’ve taken the one person who means more to me than all of time itself. That means you have me as your enemy and when you have me as your enemy there will be nowhere for you to run or hide. And if you hurt her, death won’t even be your salvation.”

There wasn’t any choice to give them. They crossed a line, his very specific, single line, which once crossed, they could never go back.

Within two hours the Doctor was marching down the halls of Torchwood, with yellowed rolls of large pieces of paper under his arm. He was still partly wet from the sewer, his hair was messy, and his suit was crumpled and foul. He smelled awful. It didn’t matter and he certainly didn’t care. He felt deadness at the center of his heart. All that mattered was either getting Rose back or making the Rerlipials pay for what they did to her. He was revenge personified and he would make sure they knew what it meant to cross the Doctor.

Behind him a contingent of Torchwood agents were following him or going about their work frantically, trying their best to assist with recovering Rose Tyler. Some tried to talk to him, but he paid no heed. He knew where he had to go. At the top floor, a floor he hated and remembered vividly, he met Pete Tyler.

“Doctor,” Pete said, standing to greet him.

He ignored Pete and went to the nearest table. He flung whatever was on top to the floor and then unrolled the yellow pieces of paper from under his arm. Slamming them down, the papers contained both old and new maps of the London sewer system.

He looked up to Pete and the rest of the agents who were following him. With a stare ready to burn a hole across dimensions, he began. “The Rerlipials have taken over this section of the sewers.” He pointed to the section near Soho, “But their main location won’t be located on the map. There are undiscovered tunnels running throughout, between here and here.” He again pointed to another blank section of the map. “Rose will probably be taken to the center, where all the hidden tunnels converge.”

Pete cut in. “Does this connect with the other missing person reports as well?”

“Yes. They were taken from here,” he pointed to one area of the map, “here, here, here and here.” He pointed to the rest of the locations. “Which means that within those areas is where the Rerlipials have been able to branch out. They are coming to the surface. What I thought was lime residue was actually their left over secretions. Everywhere they touch, they leave behind something of themselves, all leading back to those tunnels. That is where they have Rose.”

“Then we can send out agents to converge on those locations and block off the tunnels to extract the aliens.” Pete was about to give that order. It wouldn’t do, only his plan would to work.

“No.” It was final.

Pete turned to look at him, visibly taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“You’ll only get your people killed. They attack as soon as you get too close to their habitat. We have to destroy them.” He took out the piece of tendril from the memorial pump, “I can use this to reconfigure the Dimension Cannon into a weapon that will wipe out all Rerlipials, and only Rerlipials. Your people can then go in and search for Rose.”

“You’re going to kill them all?” The question sounded more like an accusation.

Under his skin, in every organ, the desperation and anguish of losing her was spreading. He stared at Pete, hoping to force him to understand. “They took Rose.”

“I still can’t let you to do that Doctor. I understand it’s Rose. She’s my daughter-”

He was a Time Lord, the last of his kind, even if he was only part. He would not be told what he could or could not do. His anger bubbled up from every vein and he let it loose. “She’s not your daughter! She’s the daughter of a dead man, another Pete from another world. I met that man. You couldn’t possibly know what’s at stake here. I’ve traveled with Rose across centuries, galaxies; we’ve seen and done things that you could barely imagine. Her life is worth more than a dying race who’ve already had their time.”

Pete shifted, squaring his shoulders. The Doctor had a feeling that he was going to be stupid. “I don’t need you to tell me who she is or what she means to me. I thought you, of all people, would understand that. I know her well enough to stop you Doctor. I’m still in charge here and I won’t allow you-“

Blazing with madness, the Doctor swallowed the distance between him and Pete to stare into the man’s face. “Allow? Then you already signed her Death Certificate.”

He didn’t wait for Pete to reply. He stormed passed Pete and the agents that were surrounding him, heading straight for the exit. These people were useless, idiots who couldn’t possibly be of any help. He’d have to save Rose on his own. He only needed to think of a plan. He had no TARDIS, no people or ties to people he could utilize. No money, though he could easily get some from an ATM. What little he did have was in his pockets. Rubber bands, his sonic screwdriver and psychic paper, and that little string bag. What was in that bag? He stopped, a few blocks from Torchwood.  He pulled out the little bag of velvet and opened it. Inside were Pyrovillian rocks. Brilliant!

He ran, feeling the limitations of his heart and lungs, to the nearest ATM and pulled out enough money to buy a car. He stuffed the wad of money into a pocket and hailed a cab. He directed the driver to the nearest warehouse store close to Soho. The sun was setting; he wasn’t sure which shops would be open. As long he could find what he needed, it didn’t matter. He could make a weapon to save Rose, an advance, completely localized, flame thrower, which would burn almost as hot as magma.

Nothing and no one could stop him now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the amazing Puddinhead!

The darkness remained even after Rose opened her eyes. The vines were still around her as she lay prone to the cold bricked ledge of a sewer tunnel. Her head pounded with a stabbing sensation that bounced back and forth within her skull. She wouldn’t dare try to move, even if she could, least she make the pain worse.

As seconds turned to minutes the darkness receded slightly and she shifted carefully to see a faint glow of blurred light coming from different sections of the tunnel. Those sections were covered in a white mossy substance that she couldn’t identify.

A moan then vibrated off the walls. It came from around the nearest corner.

She glanced around, which turned out to be a bad idea. Next to her a pile of contorted corpses, some fresher than others, each delicately wrapped with care, rotted unceremoniously. She gulped and hoped she wasn’t slated next for their chopping block.

Another moan filled the space around her; this one louder and more demanding than before. She could make out a shuffling noise as the alien came closer. She stared at the current empty space which the noise originated from. If she was going to die here, then they better get it over with.

“I know you’re coming. So just hurry up and face me.”

The shuffling stopped momentarily and she wondered if it had changed its mind. Abruptly some of the vines loosened their hold and began to whip frantically. She could feel the wind twirl on her skin, from the movement of the vines, though otherwise she was left untouched. In a blur of motion and air, twisting and tangling together, a creature unlike any she had ever seen formed.

It had a face, if you could call it that, with a mouth that went from one side to the other, nostrils that did the same, and eyes that followed. The shoulders of the creature sprouted shorter vines that were about the same length of the arms. It had two main arms and one long, almost like a mermaid tail, leg that split into hundreds of larger vines. Its body looked to be the color of bone and covered in a slime that came from the center of the alien, spreading forth to the rest of the body like small dotted ants.

“Okay then, ‘m guessing you’re a Rerlipial I’ve been hearing about.” Her heart raced with terror. She wracked her mind trying to think of way she might use whatever knowledge she had about the aliens to her advantage.

It moaned again.

“And I guess you can’t talk.” Rose didn’t know if that would make this easier or harder.

It moaned louder and fiercer than before. The vines around her body tightened and she couldn’t breathe. Okay, harder then.

She screamed out in pain. “You’re hurting me!” 

Immediately the vines unraveled completely, releasing Rose from its hold, and disappeared somewhere into the aliens body. The creature moaned what sounded almost like an apology.

Did this mean the alien could at least understand her? That would make things slightly easier. “’M guessing you didn’t mean that. Okay, so you don’t want to hurt me. Why’d you bring me here?”

The Rerlipial moved in closer, making small careful movements. It began to stroke her softly with one of its shoulder vines. It moaned again, this time low and pleading.

“Alright, maybe you’re looking for a date. B-but I’m not sure that’d be…I have this, well, this sort of boyfriend and he gets real jealous. So-”

An irritated loud moan escaped from its stretched lips. It swayed back and forth, clearly agitated.

“Oh, I guessed wrong then. Maybe,” She looked over at the pile of corpses, “Maybe you just want some company. That’s fine. Only I don’t want to end up like your other guests.”

The Rerlipial then grew another three feet and roared in fury. It went over to the dead bodies, more than just five, and hovered over them, making a pitiful crying sound.

“I take it you didn’t mean to kill them.” Half scared for her life, half confused by the actions of the alien Rose could only remain frozen in place.

It looked back at her sharply, studying her. It then came in close and Rose could see the fine details of its body. There were small red blood vessels crawling throughout each vine.

“You come from another planet, yeah? W-what was it like? I’ve been to lots of different-“

“You, me, I.” The creature spit out the words, as if it were trying them for the first time.

“You can talk! Or maybe you’re just learning.” They were getting somewhere and the first ounces of terror receded. Maybe she would get out of here with her body still in one piece. 

“Learning.”

“Yeah, like that.” Rose began to rub her arms. She shook from either the cold or shock and her muscles ached. She wouldn’t be surprised if her skin was covered in bruises. “Are there many of you?”

The creature floated above her. It started to sway to mimic a false wind. “Not many.”

“You learn fast!”

An anxious silence followed her exclamation, but then tenderly though hoarse, the creature began to talk. “Mo-mother left us here. Keep safe, from dying world. But she is gone, she never came back. We want. Leave this place. Be many. Make friends.”

Rose did her best to stand, finally feeling safe enough to do so, and after a few attempts, leaning against the wall for support, she slid upward. The Rerlipial made no move to stop her. She tried to remember what the Doctor said, so long ago, during their travels. She thought he said that fear and loneliness were the emotions that caused the most terrible acts to be committed. These aliens were alone and frightened, without even the means to communicate or access to the world above, and in their need for companionship, they had killed, probably unintentionally, countless innocent people.

She dared to reach out with her good arm towards the face of the alien. It went completely still, waiting for her to make the next move. Rose took another step and placed her finger nervously on the surface of the creature. She caressed the slippery but smooth skin of the vines. She could hear more shuffling as the other Rerlipials left their hiding places, surrounding Rose in a circle. There were five in total and all of them were practically identical. They watched in silence as she went to each of them and touched their faces. A chorus of humming filled the bleak tunnel.

Rose smiled, maybe something good could come from all this, besides getting out with her life. “What’s your name then? Or do you lot have names?”

The one in front of her spoke first. “Marcli.”

One by one the others followed, each with a distinct raspy voice. “Pipli.” “Arlicip.” “Niip.” “Cerpi.”

“C-cute names. All very fitting for you.” They all practically rhymed too. She wasn’t going to say that though. “Look, I have this friend. He can help you, all of you. He can get you out of here so you can be many. You just need to let me go.”

None of them moved or made a sound. Eventually the Rerlipials began to sway in such a forceful and agitated way that Rose began to wonder if she had stepped too far too soon.

Marcli wrapped a vine around her and pulled her to the middle of the group. It hurt, but not enough to mention. They all stood as high as they could, their heads almost touching the ceiling, looking down at her. She didn’t feel fear, instead, this felt like a goodbye. Each face contained what looked to be a heartfelt and grateful smile.

Without warning, they all began to cry and thrash about ferociously. Their cries were filled with insurmountable pain. In their agony, they took care not to hurt her, falling away from her, shielding her when their vines caved in parts of the tunnel. She turned around to look at each, wondering how she could help.

“Hurt us. Hurt us.”

Her eyes flung wide open. “You want me to do what?”

“No! Fire hurt us. Someone hurt us. We must attack. We must kill.”

Rose put up her hands in panic, “No more killing. You don’t have to kill.” Struck by the absolute certainty of the origin of their assault, she felt determined to stop it. “Let me go. I can stop the pain. I can stop the hurt.”

“Stop the hurt.” The sentence echoed across the grayed bricks, each Rerlipial repeating after the next.

Understanding what they meant, Rose began to run. She wobbled with each rushed step, her ankles screaming their own pain. She pushed her feet to carry her on, knowing the Doctor needed her.

After the TARDIS had disappeared something else besides her own worries had been firmly situated in the back of her mind. While she began healing from the wound left over from Bad Wolf Bay, the Doctor had kept his bleeding wounds a secret, yapping on about nothing at all. It had been building and festering over since that moment. Maybe even before that moment. She had felt it, yet done nothing, ignoring her own instincts.

The Doctor would never do this. Her first Doctor came so close once, but he stopped. Back then, it was against a Dalek. For him to not even give the Rerlipials a chance must mean that taking her must have pushed him too much to the edge. If he saw her, unharmed and whole, he would stop. He had to stop or he would fall too far for her to reach him.

Water splashed up her leg as her feet beat the floor of the hidden tunnel. She didn’t care how wet she would get, or if she had to dive back into the deep water of the sewers to get to him. Nothing could stop her now, not even the darkness. Not when the dire need for her to get to the Doctor outweighed everything else. 

She finally saw him in the distance at the mouth of another tunnel, using a weapon that spit out blue flame, dissolving and turning the vines and roots to ash. He stood resolute again the vines, using the solid cement floor of the tunnels to keep him upright. His brows were furrowed in complete concentration. His eyes burned with a storm of horror, desperation, and wrath. He didn’t stop, he keep going on and on, using his new tool to destroy.

“Doctor!” He didn’t hear, or refused to hear. She screamed louder. “DOCTOR!” Again her voice fell on deaf ears.

She stood not even three meters away from him and still he wouldn’t see or hear her. Tears began to collect in her eyes, threatening to overflow. Her chest felt both hollow and raw. This was the Doctor. A man lost. Fear and loneliness had consumed him whole, leaving behind a crazed shadow of destruction.

Rose knew that before her stood a man in shadow, not the man himself. He saved people, he gave them hope, and he showed people there are better ways. She wouldn’t let him continue, even if she had to stand in the pathway of the flames.

She shouted his name. Not his title, but the name of the man, whose soul was crumbling before her.

Instantly the Doctor stopped. With each beat of her heart he lowered the weapon and turned to her. His face contorted to shame and then slipped into relief. She saw the same tears mirrored in his eyes.

~~~

The Doctor stood transfixed. Rose, alive and real, a solid mass shaking before him, covered in injuries, was glaring at him with tearful and accusing eyes. She hadn’t been a ghost or hologram or his imagination.

He touched her shoulders with great care, so not to make any of her wounds worse. “Rose?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“You’re alive.”

“Last time I checked.” She looked at his weapon with borderline disgust. “So what the hell are you doing?”

“They took you Rose. I didn’t know if you were-” He couldn’t say the words.

“Well I wasn’t and you went ahead and thought an all-out attack was the best plan. That’s not like you. Tell me, what the hell were you thinking?”

“Rose,” He couldn’t stop saying her name. She was here. He hadn’t lost her. How could he even begin to explain?

“Right, if you can’t tell me, I can guess. You’re ashamed about last night. You finally opened up a little and chickened out. Or you thought you did something wrong? Or both?”

Standing straighter, her accusation hit him brutally. “I didn’t-“

“Yeah, I don’t believe you, whatever you’re going to say. It’s not like I didn’t know what might happen if I let you into my bed after what went on at the beach.” She took a step closer to him and her fingers began playing with the lapels of his jacket. “Doctor, it’s me.” The earnestness in her eyes carried over into her voice and crashed into him with all the force of a supernova.

Of course. Of course, it’s her. It’s Rose. He’d been so caught up with all that had happened to him that he had forgotten the most important fact. Well, not forgot, more like pushed to the side so he could give into the sinking feeling of his own despair. She had always been here, for him and with him, even if only in his heart. He had always believed in her. And instead of focusing on that, he’d decided to let his fears rule him.

He had every reason though. Donna had said it. Rose had said it. He wasn’t him. All his memories, his feelings, they weren’t his! And he wanted to shout that they were! He lost his TARDIS, his hold on his own universe, all his things, all his life, his full capacity of being a Time Lord, and all the people he ever meet or known or cared about. And the people he loved the most didn’t believe in him. To them he’s just a shadow of the man he had once been.

“And I’m still me.”

Looking like he spoke in another language, she shook her head and blinked at him. “You think I don’t know that?”

“Do you?”

“Have you gone completely mental? Doctor, I,” Rose placed a hand on his face, stroking his skin softly, “I love you.”

A strong sigh escaped him. “Even after everything you’ve seen I’m capable of?”

“I know exactly what you’re capable of. That whole turning people into weapons, destroyer of worlds, blood, anger, revenge, bit? Well, I’ve seen you save millions, inspire people who had nothing left, and defend even the evilest of aliens. And I love all of you, even the things you won’t look at yourself. So you can continue on like this or you can stop.”

Another knot was coming undone. The Doctor stared at Rose unable to reply. He wanted to groan and complain. As clever and experienced as he was, he had honestly given in to his own weakness and arrogance. He had let it happen. He had been making excuses and running away from the very person who could help him heal.

Images flittered through his mind, images of killing the Daleks, his people, and many other species, turning people into monsters, losing his friends or getting them killed, and then images of meeting new people, people thanking him, and finally all the images of him saving countless worlds. His life, both good and bad, presented to him by Rose and her absolute belief in him. The knot came undone and snapped into place once again.

His tears began to fall, one after the other, in a race to outdo the other. He took a deep breath and then put his arms around Rose, needing her touch and her support. She quickly embraced him and he felt her arms tighten around his shoulders. He buried his face in the nook of her neck as the sobs finally broke free. His legs gave way and together they fell to their knees. He held on as tight as he could and let himself pour out his pain while in her arms.

With increasing volume, time began to sing to him again. He felt the flow of time surround him. With every tear that fell, the stronger he felt and the easier it was to feel the turn of the Earth below him. He could reach out to the stars, galaxies, and planets. He felt them all brimming with life.

“Doctor?” He leaned back to see her. The gentle smile on her face as she rubbed the tears from his skin stopped the last of his breakdown. 

“That’s me!” He grinned as large as he could.

“You’re part human!”

Why was she bringing that up now? “Mostly Time Lord. As I told Donna, there’s never been another like me, never will. I’m unique, means I’m extra special.”

“I know what unique means, thanks. Still, part human. You’ve just become part of a really big family. Welcome to the human race.”

He took in another deep breath as the shadow within felt the warm touch of light. “Never thought of it that way. That’s not half bad.”

He realized the only direction he could go now is forward, with no regrets and nothing to hide. It was time to stop running. Finally, he gave into his intense desire to kiss her. Her warm, sweet lips felt incredible. Relief poured into him, knowing that this wasn’t as lost to him as he had thought.

Almost completely distracted by the kiss he began to realize they were still in a very smelly sewer and both of them needed a bath and probably antibiotics and a disinfectant. Several disinfectants, in fact.

“I don’t mean to interrupt and I’m happy to see Rose safe, but we need to deal with the aliens.” At the sound of Pete’s voice, they broke apart, stumbling to their feet.

Rose immediately went to her father, who was wearing a hazmat suit and large thigh high boots. “How’d you find us?”

“We followed the instructions left behind by the Doctor.” Pete nodded towards him. “Thank you for that by the way.”

A fresh bout of shame hit him. He had to do some apologizing, but later. Now wasn’t the time.

When Rose spoke to Pete, the Doctor could hear both confidence and compassion in every word. “The aliens were just lost. I promised them we’d help. Just talk to them slow and show them you don’t mean any harm and they won’t hurt you.”

He couldn’t help but grin. His Rose, making friends with hostile aliens.

“We will. Only what do we do with them after?” Pete asked.

Now he could truly be the Doctor, the man who fixes things, once again. “I have an idea.”

~~~

By the time the Doctor was finished with the Dimension Cannon, the night had blanketed the sky with bright stars, especially for London standards. Still grimy from the sewers, he popped out from under the large flattened cylinder, ready to give the Rerlipials a new home. They were all standing together before him, their roots and vines curled around their bodies.

“All done and ready to go! I’ve reconfigured this big old beauty,” he slapped the Cannon fondly, “to teleport life forms of any kind. Only need to program in the specifics and, whoosh, off you’ll go to your destination! Just type in the star coordinates and you’ll be there in no time flat, right in a jiffy! A no time jiffy! What’d you think of that?” He should be given a medal for this. He smiled as bright as he could to the creatures he almost killed.

Marcli lowered his head to meet with him. “Thank you.”

“Welcome! Anytime! And,” he wiped the smile from his face, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for hurting you before.”

A vine came up to pat his chest, but the Rerlipial said nothing more to him. Marcli shifted towards Rose, who was smiling sweetly at her new friends. “Thank you. Rose.”

“Go and be many on your new planet okay?”

Pete came toward them, looking less than pleased. “There is still the matter of all the people you lot killed, which is why I’m here to tell you, you’ve been exiled from Earth. You are no longer welcome and if you return, hostile action will be taken against you.”

The Doctor wasn’t pleased with the sound of that, but decided to stay silent. If they ever returned, he’d think of a way to stop them both to make sure no one got hurt. The disgusted and guilty expression on each Rerlipial told him this was the last time he would ever see them again, well, at least on Earth.

The group of plant-people climbed the ramp of the Dimension Cannon and stood in its center. The Doctor went over to the nearest computer and programmed in all the necessary information. He had picked a planet that was closest to the Rerlipials old home world, which should be currently uninhabited by sentient life.

The little piece of tendril from the memorial pump had come in handy. He used that as a template for the dematerialization of their atoms and hopefully, if all went well, their rematerialization. It should work brilliantly, because he had been the one who configured the settings and he was too clever to have this fail. Not when the last of a species was at risk. He pressed enter, and the Rerlipals vanished in a ball of bright, optimistic light.

“Doctor?” Rose walked over to stand beside him, “You said Rerlipals were green and red and that they give off this pheromone? What about the ones we just sent off?”

“Oh, right. Rerlipals need sunlight to properly grow to full strength. They’ve been in the ground so long they’ve never been able to suck up color and hone their skills. With time, they should turn into their full technicolored selves.”

“So,” She puckered her lips, swaying back and forth, “they just needed light and love to be themselves?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

They shared a soft smile between them.

“Since I smell of the worst part of a human body, ‘m going to clean up. See you later, yeah?”

He couldn’t help it; he reached out, wrapped his arms around her, picked her up off her feet and twirled around in a full circle. Once he put her down, he gazed at her with all the joy that was bursting forth from his now single heart. “Not if I see you first.”

She snorted in disbelief. “You stole that.”

He pulled on his ear, a habit he just couldn’t break. “Might have, because it was worth stealing.”

She laughed as she walked away. He watched her go and realized he needed to do one last thing before he also went to get cleaned up. He saw Pete a few desks away, conferring with another Torchwood agent. Awkwardly, with his hands in his pockets, he started forward.

“Pete.”

Rose’s father turned to face him, wearing a friendly expression. “Doctor, did you need anything?”

The Doctor extended his hand, in gratitude and respect. “I wanted to say, thank you for stopping me. Not many could have done what you did.”

“Over the years working with my daughter, I’ve learned a thing or two from her. Thank her by not screwing up and breaking her heart.”

“If there is one thing in this entire universe, well, all the universes, that I want least, it is to break Rose Tyler’s heart.”

Casually, Pete gave him half a nod, “See that you don’t.” Pete then turned back to his agents, leaving the Doctor to watch proudly for a moment a member of his family, in more ways than one.

~~~

Feeling completely clean and refreshed, Rose decided to spend the rest of the night in the family room even though it was a few hours before dawn. She crept down the steps in her polka dotted pajamas, trying to make as little noise as possible. She eagerly wanted to make use of the fireplace, so the warmth and comfort could seep through her battered skin and settle into her weary bones.

Once she reached the ground floor and made her way down the hall she saw that the door to the family room was already open. The very appealing orange light from the fireplace poured out to greet her. She already knew who she would find. She went inside and saw the Doctor, in his white pinstriped pajamas and a navy dressing gown, sitting by the fire reading that infernal tablet. He heard her before she could say anything. Their eyes met in a mischievous greeting.

“You still awake? I thought you be counting sheep by now, somewhere in the million digits. What time is it?”

She sat down next to him, sinking into the soft pillows of the couch. “Just about four in the morning.”

He looked directly at her and scrunched up his nose. “Really? That late? Or should I say early? Four in the morning? No, actually, it doesn’t surprise me.”

“What are you doing up?”

“Just a bit of light reading. I figured I needed to catch up on the history of Pete’s World. All four point six billion years of it.”

“Learn anything interesting?”

“Oh, lots and lots. Amazing things you wouldn’t believe. Whole sections of history from all parts of the world, so very similar but so very dissimilar. Colorful too, I have pictures.”

“And are you going to tell me or show me the pictures?”

“Maybe later. I remembered something, something much more important, essential really. Well, not remembered exactly, more like retrieved something I’ve always known at an important time when it was relevant.” He lazily got up and went over to the classic record player. “History can tell us a lot of things. Warn us, prepare us, remind us, and make us face our ugly underbellies. It can council us when we go astray.” He put on a record and the music began to float in the room. “Or run us off when we’re close to repeating it.”

She took in the sight of the Doctor as he walked forward in her direction, looking as confident in his dressing gown as he did in his suit. Not for the first time, she wondered what was going on in that brain of his. “There a point to all this?”

“Yes and I’m getting to it. Be patient.” He held out his hand. She took it and was happily rewarded. They began to dance in the firelight. “As I was saying, history has a way of telling us exactly what we need, if we just listen to it. Time works the same way. Backwards, forwards, up, down, sideways, one great big circle. Time and history are constantly whispering in your ear. Simple conclusion, it’s better to listen than close your ears from what could be very good advice.”

When he twirled her around, she was immediately reminded of the first time they danced. The music picked up and she recognized the song, In the Mood, by Glenn Miller. It was the same song he’d played on the TARDIS, in another universe and time, so long ago. “Is this really the same song?”

“Yup! And the very same steps, I have a superb memory.”

“This brings me back.”

“To War World II with a great big Chula war ambulance right smack in the middle of it?”

“And nanogenes.” A giggled escaped her as she reminisced.

“And this,” To emphasize the point, he dipped her just as she remembered.

“So what’s all this really about?”

After he pulled her back up from the dip, he held her close. The warmth of his body seeped into her, which was far more relaxing than any fire. She felt his single heart beat close to her own, in a steady, calming rhythm. The dance stopped and he teased her by rubbing his nose on her own, leaning in faintly to barely press his lips to hers.

“Rose Marion Tyler, I realized there was something I needed to tell you. After what happened today, oh, blimey, after that disaster, I wanted to make sure you knew that I solemnly swear to do better.”

“Better?”

“I will be the better man that you think I am.”

“But you are.”

“Maybe, I am me after all. Time will tell, if we listen.”

“Endless possibilities?”

He nodded vigorously. “Yes! Oh, yes! The future, endless possibilities, lots of different choices, all ready for us to reach out and take them.”

“Like this?” Rose grabbed his dressing gown and hard-pressed her lips to his. He wrapped his arms around her, as before, taking his time to let his hands wander. After a few moments he lifted her up into his arms and let her dictate their kiss. She took her leisure, enjoying every soft press of his lips. He carried her to her room and closed the door behind them with a single, gentle kick.

1858 Soho, Westminster, London

A heavy brown door opened to reveal a woman with bright red hair and strikingly green eyes rush into a barely lit room. Inside laid the recently deceased Doctor John Snow, his ghostly complexion matching the white of the sheets on the bed. There was no else, the lonely room was bare except for a lone candle flickering in the wind.

The woman, who had taken the name Rose Spears so long ago, dropped to her knees beside the empty body. She took the fragile and lifeless hand of the man who had made it possible to protect her young.

“I’m sorry John. Oh, John, I am so sorry I deceived you.” She hesitated, unsure what to say to a man gone from the world. “I wish I could have told you the truth. I wish, I wish I could have told you how I f-felt. I couldn’t say it, to you. After my planet and my people, I just couldn’t. I promise you, I will stay forever by your side. I will change. I will be what you need me to be, even though you are gone.”

Tears that wouldn’t stay back began to fall. She gripped the sheets and buried her head within them. “My children will be fine without me. They will be fine. I know.”

She moved as close as she dared and continued to hold on to him for as long as her body would allow it.

~~~

Weeks later, to everyone’s surprise, a single bright red rose bush appeared beside the gravestone of Doctor John Snow.

The End


End file.
